Chasing the scent of Love, Truth, Beauty, and Mirth, wherever it may lead.

Monday, January 14, 2013

New Infrastructure

New
Infrastructure

Up
the lane and down the street a little ways from our house, huge machines have
arrived to upgrade the water and sewer pipes coming in and going out of a city
pumping sub-station. This is on an otherwise sleepy, residential block close to
the beach on the Chesapeake
Bay.

Our
once-quiet street is now an impassable eyesore, except for the people unlucky
enough to live near the pumping station. They may drive to their homes through mud and brine on a
narrow lane between machines and park in their own driveways.

Pipes
connected to each other line the sidewalks, which are closed to pedestrians,
and pumps rumble day and night, circulating water perpetually from beneath the
ground and back into the ground. The site is like an autopsy, where we can see
the exposed innards of the awesome technology which brings running water and
sewer services to our homes in this part of town.

But
it’s also a huge pre-emption of the right to live with quiet enjoyment in our
homes. That right is over-ruled by deciders downtown, who are no doubt correct.
The infrastructure needs the upgrade to accommodate all the extra people now
living in our neighborhood.

It’s
city life. A big problem. All signs are, it won’t get solved anytime soon, and
meanwhile work goes ahead down our street to replace the old city plumbing with
the new plumbing, and even the city knows it’s a big pain in the ass, and it
will go on for about a year until people forget what they always liked about
the neighborhood and are almost ready to move when one day the machines go away
and the street is good-to-go again. Nice.

But
we also have a problem of sea-level rise around here, and not much has been
done about it. So that’s a huge thing. And we’ve been lucky. No humongous storm
has hit us for awhile—certainly not since I’ve been here. But I think most
people sort of feel in their bones that we could be about due...for “the big
one.”

I
can’t imagine the waters rushing into the sanctity of my home, but I also see
around me that Mother Nature is struggling for her life against the
encroachment of human beings. Human beings like me.

I
see the collapse of the wetland trees and the hunger of the birds and raccoons
if I forget to put out food every day. We’ve crowded Mother Nature’s diversity
and variety into fetid swamps and regimented parks, and if she in her
desperation lashes out at our shores in a move to make things whole again, will
new infrastructure keep back the tides from my front door?

But
infrastructure is a concept we can grasp. After all, we invented it—to make
life easier, for ourselves, for our families. It’s essential to have indoor
plumbing, running water. Running hot water! The city even takes away our
garbage and trash with military efficiency. What would I do otherwise with
something like our old broken toilet seat? Throw it in the woods?

There
just are no easy answers to anything, and the problems in the world seem
endless.

I
used to think that if everyone lived a simpler life, we could continue as a
species and as a civilization indefinitely.

But
a simple life is not everyone’s cup of tea. Most people want more than the
basics. They want to go shopping! After awhile, so did I. But a funny thing
happened to me on my way to the middle class. It all collapsed.

I
think that’s part of what this new infrastructure is about— bringing back the
past, securing that quality of life for another generation. It seems necessary,
it may be successful. But if the sea swallows us up, what good will it do?

Meanwhile,
as the process down the block continues, we all know we’ve got to get together
and do something on the climate change issue. There’s some movement at City
Hall—studies and whatnot. New bike lanes have appeared on many streets. Light
rail is up and running—just one route so far, back and forth across downtown,
through some of the neighborhoods most likely to disappear under water.

It
seems the larger reality of the sea rising around us has everybody stumped.

I
guess it’s the money. It will cost too much to save everybody from the rising
ocean. So we mostly we ignore the problem, and people must make their own
plans. Meanwhile, the infrastructure will be here for our neighborhood, in case
“the big one” doesn’t happen.

I
pray it doesn’t happen, but also that living through the danger will make us
all a more loving people, not just to each other but to the whole world and all
the creatures in it.

I
also hope that in this new millennial age we can come to understand and accept
physical death. Why fight it? In one way or another, it’s always going to go
along with physical life.